Flower arm
by liani03
Summary: Flame Princess takes some time to visit Finn and talk after his encounter with his dad. (Oneshot)


It was just another day of royal duties for the Flame King; she was currently being driven out near the grasslands by the royal escort. Today was a bit more informal than the rest, just a routine checkup with the allies from another kingdom; she would be done in less than an hour, then there would be nothing more to do today. She glanced out the window, watching somberly as the grasslands sped past; a trail of burnt grass and smoke followed the carriage. Suddenly, she saw Finn lounging outside the treehouse. Even from this distance, the absence of his right arm was very noticeable. FP had heard it from the other princesses, but she had not seen it in person. Seen _him_ since it happened. After a moment's thought, she decided to stop and talk with him a while.

"Pull over, please."

The carriage came to a halt and FP jumped out. She turned towards the escort and gave him a nod. "You can come pick me up in an hour." The driver nodded back and with that, he was off. As soon as FP turned around, she could see that Finn was already running towards her, waving excitedly.

"Hiya, FP! What brings you around the treehouse?" He stopped in front of her, almost out of breath from running. He put his hands on his hips, trying not to show how winded he was, and played it cool. "It's rare to see you come by."

FP gave him a small smile. "Yeah, it was along the way so I thought I'd stop by and chat for a bit. How've you been?"

"I've been great! You know, still on the adventuring biz." He spoke quickly, not wanting to leave any room for an awkward silence. "So… is there anything specific you wanted to talk about?"

FP hesitated for a moment and started to nervously rub her arms. "Actually… there is." She locked eyes with him, and then slowly turned her gaze towards his flower stub as he did the same.

"Oh." He unconsciously touched the flower, as if remembering it was there. "Sure thing FP, ask me whatever you want. No problem with me." He gave her a small smile, reassuring her that he was okay with talking about it.

"Thank you." FP thought she was acting a bit too polite, but she wasn't sure how touchy of a subject this was for him, so she felt like she needed to be. "Do you mind if we sit down somewhere though?"

"Uhh, totes… let me just…" He looked around for someplace to sit, until he saw two medium-sized boulders up ahead. "Aha! That looks like a good place to sit. You okay with that, FP?"

"Sure." The two made their way to the space and promptly sat down. It was surprisingly comfortable for a boulder. Finn took a deep breath and there and then, before chickening out, decided to tell her everything. The whole story. From conquering his fear of the ocean, to building the tower, and everything about his jerkwad of a dad. FP listened intently to every second of the story, not wanting to miss any important details. She knew that Finn was pouring his heart guts out to her, and didn't want to take it for granted.

As he was nearing the part about almost reaching the portal at the top of the tower, Finn noticed that his stub was glowing. "Oh neat, check this out." He shifted in his seat so FP could have a clear view. Right around the flower stub, a sort of translucent arm was growing in place of a real arm. Flame Princess gasped in amazement. Finn chuckled in response to this, and turned his hand around to see it from both sides. "It appears at random now. This is the magic Finn arm I was telling you about."

"It's… amazing. But it can't just be random. Do you know what kinds of feelings are associated with it when it appears? Anything in particular?"

Finn shrugged. "I don't know… It all just seemed random to me. I guess when I think about my dad n' junk, since I've been doing that a lot lately." He waved it away, not wanting to think about it anymore. "It's no big whoop. Plus this time, it's not dangerous. At least, I think it isn't…" He trailed away in thought until he noticed that FP was still staring at it.

"Can I…?" FP looked at Finn and back at the arm, waiting for a sign of approval.

Finn then caught onto what she was thinking "Uhh, sure!" Suddenly feeling self-conscious, he rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand and offered his other hand to her. Flame Princess touched the hand softly, like it was made of glass. It felt odd, like she was touching solid air. She trailed her fingers softly over it and noticed Finn wasn't getting hurt; the hand was impervious to her flames. She then took it a step further and locked hands with him, analyzing Finn and the arm's behavior.

Finn blushed a bit and gave her an awkward smile. "Sure is great I'm not getting burned, huh? Hehe."

Then, just as quickly as it had come, it dissolved into nothing again and vanished, leaving only the flower stub. FP's eyes grew wide with panic and her face appeared worried. "W-was-"

Finn stopped her quickly, almost reading her thoughts "Don't worry, it wasn't you." He reassured her once more. "It just goes away sometimes when I stop feeling crummy. It had nothing to do with you burning my hand."

Flame princess relaxed and looked down at her own hands. She couldn't even imagine what it must be like losing an arm. But she can however sympathize with his father issues. FP pressed on; she wanted to hear it from his own mouth.

"So your dad really…?"

"Ah… yep."

She still couldn't believe it. FP felt herself start to become enraged. "Ugh! How could someone be so cruel and indifferent like that!? Does he even know how much damage he's caused!?" She started getting more and more angry for Finn's sake, while also thinking of her own father. The way he abandoned her while she was a baby, leaving her to die like that was no different from what Finn's father did. She put her hands into fists and gritted her teeth. Her flames started to grow even more as her thoughts raced on.

Finn scooted back and defensively put his hand around the flower, fearing that one of the flames might burn it. He had to calm her down; it was never good when FP got mad. He tried desperately to do so.

"B-but it's okay! I feel much better than before. Like, I don't even want to punch my dad or anything." He stammered. "Y'know, after I punched Princess Bubblegum."

FP's flames receded back as she stared at him with a blank expression; her hands were still in fists, but she no longer seemed angry. She stayed like that for a moment, and then suddenly, she started to laugh. It was a loud laugh, like someone had just told her the funniest joke ever.

"Hahaha yeah, I guess even _my_ anger would die down after punching _her_."

Finn joined in on her laughter. "Hehe, I guess so."

After a whole minute of laughter, FP sighed happily and smiled. She looked at Finn once again. It was interesting, really. If you based it on outer appearances, he seemed at a disadvantage, fragile even. But in reality, he is strong to the core inside. You could really tell how much he's grown as a person. Kind of like herself, in a way.

Finn stopped laughing and noticed FP was deep in thought. "What's up?"

"Nothing." She started to get up and patted Finn on the shoulder, leaving a small trail of smoke and a short sizzling sound as she did so. "Just be careful from now on, alright?"

He nodded. "Yes ma'am." Finn chuckled again. "See you around?"

She smiled at him, liking the idea. "Sure." And she walked off, leaving Finn with his thoughts and a new burn mark on his shirt.

* * *

Thank you so much for reading. I really hoped you liked it ;w;

Actually, this fic was a gift to one of my friends, Matt. He's an awesome person so I wanted to give him a little something~ As always I'll try to update as much as I can, and now with Summer upon us, I think I have a good chance of writing some more fics in the near future c: Drop me a review if you liked the fic, and if not, critiques are welcome too. ^_^


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